虽然“打假”的口号如雷贯耳,但“造假”事件还是屡见不鲜。就拿近期炒得纷纷攘攘的“学历门”事件来说,中国有“打工皇帝”唐骏,美国有招生办主任玛丽莉·琼斯。玛丽莉·琼斯曾是名闻全球的美国麻省理工学院的招生办主任,也是一位广受欢迎的演讲者。然而,这位才能卓越、重权在握的女士却因一纸假简历断送了自己原本风光无限的前程。有人认为,她为社会所创造的价值足以掩盖她简历上的“瑕疵”;也有人认为,一个丢失了诚信的人即使才能卓越,也不值得信任。不管人们抱着何种观点,有一点毋庸置疑:犯了错,就该勇于承认;认了错,就要改过自新。但问题在于,无论是认错的勇气,还是弥补的努力,都不会也不该成为别人原谅你谎言的理由和前提。毕竟,赎过之路,从来都不容易……
“Everybody has a shadow side they’re running away from,” she says. “If you can’t face your shadow side, you project it onto everybody around you.”
“Holding integrity is sometimes very hard to do because the temptation may be to cheat or cut corners,” it says. “But just remember that ‘what goes around comes around,’ meaning that life has a funny way of giving back what you put out.”
Marilee Jones, former dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, resigned in 2007 after admitting that she fabricated1) her credentials2) nearly three decades earlier. She said in a press release that she had lacked “courage” to correct her résumé, which listed degrees from three institutions; she had not graduated from any of them. A roar of publicity followed.
After losing one of the top jobs in college admissions, Ms. Jones, 59, says she found something more important—humility. She describes her fall as a blessing, the moment when she finally became herself. “Everybody has a shadow side they’re running away from,” she says. “If you can’t face your shadow side, you project3) it onto everybody around you.”
Ms. Jones says what she did was wrong. She also says she has forgiven herself for what she describes as mistakes made by a younger, much different woman. She hopes that people will weigh the lies she told against the work she did and see the difference. But the problem is, although her message about admissions still resonates4) in the field, is it enough to redeem the messenger?
2007年,玛丽莉·琼斯辞去了麻省理工学院招生办主任一职。此前,她承认,将近三十年前,她伪造了自己的文凭。在一次新闻发布会上,她说自己简历中所列的三个学院的文凭其实没一个是真的,她不曾上过其中的任何一所。但她一直缺乏改正的“勇气”。此言一出,众皆哗然。
现年59岁的琼斯女士说,在丢掉了学院招生办的顶级职位之后,她找到了某种更为重要的东西——谦卑。她认为自己的失败是因祸得福,因为她终于做回了自己。 “每个人身上都有自己试图躲避的阴暗面,”她说,“如果你不能直面这个阴暗面,你就会把它投射到周围的人身上。”
琼斯女士承认说自己以前的行为是错误的。她还说,她原谅了自己作为一个年轻女子、一个与现在大不相同的女子所犯下的错误。她希望人们能够掂量一下,看看她所撒下的谎言和她所作的贡献孰轻孰重。但问题是,尽管她关于招生问题的演讲还在人们耳边回荡,但仅凭这一点,这位演讲者就能获得救赎吗?
The Pathto Cambridge5) 通往 坎布里奇之路
Growing up in Albany, Marilee Jones learned that service to others was a necessity. Her father instructed his five children to fetch groceries for elderly neighbors and shovel6) walkways when it snowed. She describes her late father as a disciplinarian7) who was constantly angry. Her parents often told her not to ask so many questions. Growing up, she felt confined.
In 1969 she enrolled at the College of Saint Rose, a Roman Catholic institution in Albany. On the campus she felt as lost as she did at home. Drinking and drugs were not her escape; instead, she worked. Cleaning offices, selling handbags, hooking patients up to EKG machines8) at the hospital. After graduating with a degree in biology in 1973, she was unhappy and restless.
In 1978, Ms. Jones arrived in Cambridge, Mass., with her husband, Steven, a graduate student at MIT. One day she saw an advertisement for a job—an assistant to MIT’s director of admissions. She says she remembers wearing a Diane von Furstenberg9) wrap dress and sandals to the interview, but not much about the interview itself. Nor does she recall the moment she wrote down on a form that she had attended Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. MIT officials have said that Ms. Jones added a degree from Albany Medical College after she was hired.
In the fog of those moments lies a mystery. Why Ms. Jones did not state that she had, in fact, graduated from Saint Rose is something that she may never understand. She says it might have been because she worried that the college would not impress anyone at MIT. Or because she doubted herself.
“I was screwed up10),” she says. “I was very, very angry. It was probably a lot of different things. It was a top-of-my-head11) decision, like, OK, I’m going to try this on. I just couldn’t be myself. I wasn’t good enough to be myself.”
玛丽莉·琼斯在奥尔巴尼长大,从小就知道为他人服务是必要的。她的父亲经常教育五个子女帮助邻近的老年人拿生活用品,下雪时铲除道路积雪。据她描述,她已故的父亲是个非常严厉的人,动不动就发脾气。父母经常告诉她不要问太多的问题。她觉得自己是在封闭的环境中长大的。
1969年,她考入圣罗斯学院,一个坐落在奥尔巴尼的罗马天主教学院。在学校里,她和在家里一样有一种失落感。但她没有以酗酒和嗑药来逃避这一切,相反,她开始了工作:打扫办公室,推销手提包,在医院为病人连心电图仪。1973年,她毕业了,获得了生物学学位,但她却闷闷不乐,心绪不宁。
1978年,琼斯女士来到了马萨诸塞州的坎布里奇市,同行的还有她的丈夫史蒂芬,一位麻省理工学院的研究生。一天,她看到一则招聘广告,招聘麻省理工学院招生办主任助理。她说,她只记得当时自己穿了一件黛安·冯·芙丝汀宝牌的裹身裙和一双凉拖就去面试了,而对于面试本身却没留下多少印象。她也不曾记起她曾填写过一个表格,说自己上过联合学院和伦斯勒理工学院。麻省理工学院的官员回忆说,琼斯女士受聘之后,又在自己的履历里添加了一个奥尔巴尼医学院的学位。
在这些混沌模糊、扑朔迷离的时刻背后,隐藏着一个难解之谜。为什么琼斯女士不愿说自己实际上是毕业于圣罗斯学院呢?这一点,也许她自己永远都不会明白。她说也许是因为她担心圣罗斯学院的名号在麻省理工学院会让人看不上眼。或者,是因为她对自己没有信心。
“我当时真是昏了头了,”她说,“我真是非常非常恼火。也许各种原因都有。当时就是脑子一热,就好像——那好吧,我就试试这个好了。我就是没法做自己。我还不够优秀,不敢做自己。”
This Monsterbehind the Door 藏在 门后的怪兽
By all accounts, Ms. Jones was good at her job, which she began in 1979. Her first assignment was to schedule speaking engagements at high schools, where female graduates of MIT would talk to young women about the importance of studying mathematics and science. Later Ms. Jones was responsible for recruiting women, as well as for outreach to international students. She enlisted more MIT students and alumni12) in recruitment and created a dynamic weekend campus-visit program, one of the first of its kind.
Michael C. Behnke, who was MIT’s director of admissions from 1985 to 1997, says Ms. Jones deserves much of the credit for diversifying the undergraduate class. Mr. Behnke describes Ms. Jones as a “terrific” colleague.
For many years, Ms. Jones tried not to think about her falsified credentials or examine her reasons for lying. For one, they did not seem to relate to her day-to-day work. “I knew I was good at what I was doing, and I was satisfied with that,” she says. “But there was this monster behind the door, and I knew if I turned around and looked at that, I would have hit the wall. I had the monster barricaded13) in, and I thought, I’m not going to let you out.”
Then in 1997 Mr. Behnke announced that he was leaving MIT. Ms. Jones, then associate director, felt ice run down her spine14). She wanted the job, but what would happen if she submitted herself to the vetting15) process? She describes the dilemma as a “moral moment”, when she could have chosen to correct the record. Instead, she applied for the job.
The hiring process took months. When Ms. Jones finally got the job and the new title of dean, she was relieved, but that feeling did not linger. Soon thereafter she started having arrhythmias16) and waking up with chest pains.
The worry grew worse as her name became more familiar. Over the years Ms. Jones became a sought-after17) speaker. Her message was that everyone involved in admissions needed to chill out for the sake of education, not to mention their sanity18).
In 2006 that message arrived in a book called Less Stress, More Success: A New Approach to Guiding Your Teen Through College Admissions and Beyond, which Ms. Jones wrote with Kenneth R. Ginsburg. It was a hit. Full of advice for students and parents, the book included a passage about integrity. “Holding integrity is sometimes very hard to do because the temptation may be to cheat or cut corners19),” it says. “But just remember that ‘what goes around comes around,’ meaning that life has a funny way of giving back what you put out.”
不管怎样,1979年,琼斯女士开始工作了,而且干得很不错。她的第一个任务是安排麻省理工学院的女研究生到中学里作演讲,给年轻女子讲述学习数学和科学的重要性。后来,琼斯女士又负责招收女学生,以及向国外招收国际留学生。在招生的过程中,她争取到了更多的麻省理工学生和校友的支持和帮助,她还发起了一个充满活力的周末校园游活动——此类活动的“鼻祖”。
1985至1997年间,迈克尔·本克任麻省理工学院的招生办主任。他说,在本科班的多样化方面,琼斯女士功不可没。本克先生认为琼斯女士是个“很棒”的同事。
许多年来,琼斯女士尽量不去想她的虚假文凭问题,也不想去追究自己究竟为什么要撒谎。原因之一是这些问题和她的日常工作似乎没有什么关系。“我知道我目前的工作做得很好,对此我也非常满意,”她说,“但是,我的门后却藏着一头野兽,我知道如果我回头去看它,我一定会碰壁。我把这头怪兽封锁在里面,心想,我是不会放你出来的。”
1997年,本克先生宣布他将要离开麻省理工学院。那时还是招生办副主任的琼斯女士感到脊背直发凉。她想得到这个职位,但一旦进入审查程序,这将对她意味着什么呢?她将当时的这种两难处境描述为“考验道德的时刻”。那时,她本来还可以选择改正自己的简历,但是她没有,她选择了申请这一职位。
聘用程序持续了几个月。当琼斯女士最终获得这一职位和崭新的主任头衔时,她松了一口气,但这种感觉并不长久。此后不久,她开始出现心律失常的症状,醒来时常常感到胸口疼痛。
随着自己名气越来越大,琼斯女士也感到越来越焦虑。几年下来,人们开始请她到处作演讲。她常常说的一句话就是:为了教育,每个等待录取的学生不仅要保持健全的心智,更要学会放松心情。
2006年,这一观点被写进了一本书:《少一分压力,多一分成功:指导孩子进入大学校门、适应大学生活的新方法》。这本书由琼斯女士和肯尼思·R·金斯伯格合著。书一出版就大受读者欢迎。书中内容都是给学生和家长的忠告,其中有一段是专门谈论诚信的:“保持诚信有时非常困难,因为总会有一些诱惑促使你去欺骗,或者走捷径。但是要记住:‘种什么因,得什么果。’意思是说,你给了生活什么,生活就会以奇特的方式回馈你什么。”
A Second Act in New York 纽约 第二幕
Ms. Jones resigned in April 2007, the same day she admitted that the three degrees were bogus20). Soon Ms. Jones’s name was everywhere. Reporters descended upon her house, in Concord. Ms. Jones, who by then had separated from her husband, fled to Manhattan to stay with an old friend. She did not go outside for weeks. She slept constantly. “It was like a snake, molting,” she says.
Then in 2008, she moved to New York. Since then Ms. Jones has sought what she describes as a “reclamation”. She hired a public-relations consultant, Rose Marie Terenzio. Ms. Terenzio says she explained the first rule of making a comeback: “If you make a mistake, own up to21) it, apologize, try to fix it if you can. Then move forward.”
Ms. Terenzio connected Ms. Jones with Columbia University Medical Center’s Center for Survivor Wellness, which serves teenagers who have been treated for cancer. Since November 2008, Ms. Jones has volunteered there each Wednesday morning, meeting one-on-one with patients whose illnesses have interrupted their schooling. She has helped some of the students plan their next steps, to college or a career, and advised others on how to write their application essays.
Last spring, she founded TruStar Consulting, a service for parents of high-school students who want help navigating the admissions process and its attendant anxieties. Then last summer, she started a second company called Marilee Jones Consulting, through which she offers her expertise to high schools and colleges. Her Web site lists numerous endorsements22), including a quote from The Boston Globe: “the most celebrated and outspoken admissions dean in America.”
Although Ms. Jones no longer has that title, she believes she has a right to the good side of her name. “What I did at MIT was my work,” she says.
琼斯女士是在2007年4月辞职的,辞职当天,她承认自己的三个文凭都是假的。很快,琼斯女士的名字变得无处不在。记者们蜂拥而入她在康科德的家。那时,已和丈夫分居的琼斯女士躲到了曼哈顿一个老朋友的家里。她一连几个星期都不出门,多数时间都在睡觉。“我觉得自己就像一条正在蜕皮的蛇。”她说。
2008年,她移居纽约。从那以后,琼斯女士就一直致力于她所谓的“收复失地”工作。她专门聘请了一位公共关系专家——罗丝·玛丽·泰伦齐奥。泰伦齐奥女士向她解释了复出的首要规则:“如果你犯了错,就要坦白承认,为此道歉,并尽力地修复、弥补。然后,迈步向前。”
泰伦齐奥女士帮琼斯女士联系了哥伦比亚大学医学中心的幸存者健康中心,这是一家专为接受癌症治疗的青少年服务的机构。从2008年11月以来,琼斯女士每周三早上都去那里当志愿者,一对一地为那些因病而中断学业的孩子们服务。她还帮助其中一些学生筹划他们人生的下一步,比如上大学或者就业,并且指导一些学生撰写申请文章。
去年春天,她创办了TruStar咨询公司,专为中学生家长提供服务,帮助他们通过大学录取程序,消除由此带来的焦虑。接着,去年夏天,她又创办了一家公司,叫玛丽莉·琼斯咨询公司,利用自己的专业技能向中学和大学提供咨询服务。她的网站上列举了许多支持她的言论,包括《波士顿环球报》上的一句评论:“美国最著名、最直率的招生办主任。”
尽管琼斯女士已不再拥有这一头衔,但她相信,她有权拥有自己名字中好的一面。“我在麻省理工学院做的一切都是我的工作。”她说。
What’sin a Name? 名声 意味着什么?
When Ms. Jones left MIT, many of her supporters worried that people would dismiss everything she had ever said. Among those who worried was Scott White, director of guidance at Montclair High School. Mr. White lamented23) her lie but praised her message. He urged his colleagues to remember her “vision of sanity, compassion, and concern”.
So when Ms. Jones contacted Mr. White about the possibility of presenting at Montclair, he told her she could come. Why not?
Then Mr. White arranged for Ms. Jones to speak at a gathering for parents of juniors. Two days before the event, Mr. White predicted that Ms. Jones would win over parents, just like the last time she spoke there, several years ago. Still, Mr. White wondered if someone would complain about Ms. Jones. After all, a curious parent might ask why—in a world full of admissions deans who have never lied about their degrees—had the school invited Ms. Jones? “It’s a bit of a risky move,” he said.
In the end, Mr. White apparently decided it was too risky. Two nights before Ms. Jones was to speak at Montclair, he called to cancel her invitation. So Ms. Jones must wait awhile longer to face the first audience of her new life.
Marilee Jones has reclaimed her name, but the best part is also the worst: Nobody seems to have forgotten it.
琼斯女士离开麻省理工学院时,许多支持她的人都担心人们会否定她曾说过的一切。在这些人中,有一位叫斯各特·怀特的,是蒙特克莱尔中学的辅导主任。怀特先生对琼斯女士的谎言深表遗憾,但同时赞扬了她曾说过的那些话。他呼吁自己的同事记住她的“关于心智、激情和关爱的见解”。
因此,当琼斯女士和怀特先生联系,询问她是否有可能来蒙特克莱尔中学演讲时,他告诉她可以来。为什么不可以呢?
接着,怀特先生着手安排琼斯女士在初中生家长会议上演讲。在会议即将举行的两天前,怀特先生还预测琼斯女士将会赢得家长的支持,就像上一次她在这里演讲时一样,那是几年前的事了。然而,怀特先生到底还是担心会有人对请琼斯女士作演讲心怀抱怨。毕竟,喜欢刨根问底的家长可能会问,这个世界上到处都有文凭没有造假的招生主任,为什么学校却偏偏要邀请琼斯女士呢?“这样做的确是有点冒险。”他说。
最后,怀特先生显然是认定了这样做很冒险。就在琼斯女士即将在蒙特克莱尔中学演讲的前两晚,他打电话取消了对她的邀请。因此,琼斯女士不得不再等待一段时日才能和她新生活中的第一批听众见面了。
玛丽莉·琼斯努力恢复自己的名声,但最好的部分往往也是最差的:对于她曾犯过的错,似乎没有人轻易忘记。
1. fabricate [5fAbrIkeIt] vt. 捏造;伪造(文件等)
2. credential [krI5denFEl] n. 文凭
3. project [5prCdVekt] vt. 投射(热、声、光、影等)
4. resonate [5rezEneIt] vi. 回响;回荡
5. Cambridge [5keImbrIdV] n. 坎布里奇,美国马萨诸塞州东部城市,麻省理工学院的所在地
6. shovel [5FQvEl] vt. 用铲挖出
7. disciplinarian [7dIsIplI5neErIEn] n. 厉行纪律的人
8. EKG machine:心电图仪(Electrocardiogram machine)
9. Diane von Furstenberg:黛安·冯·芙丝汀宝(1946～),俄罗斯犹太裔设计师,曾被《新闻周刊》(Newsweek)贯以“纽约时装皇后”的美誉。文中此处指黛安于1973年创建的同名品牌。
10. screw up:弄糟,搞砸,铸下大错
11. top-of-one’s-head:由美国习惯用语“off the top of one’s head”而来,表示“不假思索的,未经仔细考虑的”。
12. alumnus [E5lQmnEs] ([复] -ni [-naI]) n. (男)校友,(男)毕业生
13. barricade [7bArI5keId] vt. 使躲在路障(或挡墙)等后面
14. spine [spaIn] n. [解] 脊柱,脊椎
15. vet [vet] vt. 审查,审核
16. arrhythmia [E5rITmIE] n. [医] 心律不齐, 心律失常
17. sought-after:很吃香的,广受欢迎的
18. sanity [5sAnEtI] n. 心智健全
19. cut corners:抄近路
20. bogus [5bEu^Es] adj. 〈美〉假的,伪造的
21. own up to:坦白,承认错误
22. endorsement [In5dC:smEnt] n. 赞同,支持,认可
23. lament [lE5ment] vt. 为……感到遗憾